Facebook Ads Call-To-Action Buttons – Do they really matter?

The Facebook Ads team has been rolling out changes to their ads platform at a blistering pace recently (look for an upcoming top-ten new features post here soon!) and buried in one of those updates was the inclusion of “button clicks” results in their reporting.

This is the number of users who actually click on the CTA (call-to-action) button we have all been told we absolutely must use for maximum impact! (While button-click data has been available in some 3rd-party Facebook ad platforms for a while, it’s great to see the Ads team releasing this to everyone.)

Understanding what levers are available to advertisers to improve Facebook ads performance will not only boost ROI but can also provide a better user experience.

We decided to look at the results from three different clients & verticals to determine if including a CTA button actually led to improved performance. All told, we dug thru 52M impressions, over 341,000 clicks and close to 8900 conversions (all click-based, according to the Facebook pixel). We were mostly interested in the following for this quick analysis:

What percentage of clicks on a Facebook ad are from button clicks

Are users who click on the CTA button more likely to convert than someone who doesn’t (click on the CTA button)

This test is not perfect, we understand that, but it provides a starting point. We’ll provide a follow-up to this post with results from similar ads that don’t include the CTA button.

Insurance:

Button click % (button clicks/total link clicks): .09%

More likely to convert after clicking on the CTA button: Yes – significant lift compared to those who didn’t click on the CTA button

Tech:

Button click %: 11.42%

More likely to convert after clicking on the CTA button: Yes, there was a lift in conversions but not nearly as great as the other verticals

SaaS

Button click %: 3.33%

More likely to convert after clicking on the CTA button: Yes – significant lift compared to those who didn’t click on the CTA button

Results:

While CTA buttons are not clicked on very much, those who do click on them, compared to users who clicked elsewhere on the ad, are more likely to convert. This was especially true with our insurance and SaaS clients where we saw a much higher likelihood. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised by these results. Compared to just clicking on the banner, someone taking the time to think, if only briefly, and then click the CTA button have illustrated stronger intent to engage with an ad. Other factors that are very likely to influencer these results are the types of audiences, ie. remarketing vs. prospecting.

Takeaways:

For now, we recommend including the CTA button in your ads if you’re looking to drive website visitors or conversions. But as is always the case with digital, test test test. Test ads with and without the CTA button to really determine the impact on sales. Test using different CTA – Buy Now vs. Learn More, etc. Of course, the banner and text in the ad is likely going to have the biggest impact driving visitors to your site to convert